Will we still have food in 2050?

The 2021 elections to the House of Representatives will be very important for the future of agriculture and horticulture. I see 2 scenarios that can both have a huge impact.

SCENARIO 1
If GroenLinks comes to power with D66 and the Party for the Animals, agriculture will be driven out of the Netherlands. The European Union, led by Frans Timmermans, is also going to phase out European Agriculture. Because the world is not getting any bigger, but the population is growing, there will be major food shortages. After all, the farmers who are gone will never come back.

Similarly, agricultural production in developing countries is only decreasing. With us, soil fertility is now maintained by our farmers, but in developing countries much more looting is done on the land. The farmers there have too little manure, no money for green manures and no money for fertilizer. By the year 2050, all rainforests will have burned up. The ashes of the burned jungle create fertile soil for several years.

End of the world reached
Only people with 5x average income or more can still buy food at a very high price. Wars have broken out all over the world over food shortages. Because the European population does not grow, but in the developing countries it does, Europe is occupied by the developing countries. To get that little bit of food that Europe still has. The end of the world has been reached. Climate is no longer considered. Hunger is the problem. All wildlife and domestic animals are dying out as the animals are captured and eaten.

After all, good nature can only flourish with healthy agriculture. It provides enough food. If not, this will lead to the overexploitation of nature.

SCENARIO 2
If the parties GroenLinks, D66 and the Party for the Animals lose, the farmers will not disappear from the Netherlands. There will be no famine in 2050. The nitrogen emissions from agriculture are completely gone. The manure from the livestock is even worth a lot of money as a raw material and is processed into high-quality raw materials: phosphate, potash and nitrogen. This manure is worth money, because the mines where phosphate and potassium are still extracted will already be empty in 2040. Manure has therefore become very scarce and valuable for growing food.

Herbicides are no longer used, because the weeds are controlled by robots. Only a disease outbreak, which cannot be combated with natural enemies, is still combated locally with the aid of recognition by the machine. Mineral losses to groundwater have been reduced to zero through precision fertilization.

Just enough food
We have just enough food despite the fact that the population on earth now consists of 9 billion people. Fortunately, prosperity in developing countries has also increased and the number of people on earth is no longer increasing, so that just enough food remains on earth to feed all people. The price for the food has become a bit more expensive, but everyone who works can afford it.

Agriculture has no CO2 emissions. After all, agriculture is the natural short cycle. However, in a densely populated area such as the Netherlands, a number of nature reserves have been reclaimed - insofar as this was still possible - for agriculture and housing. Agriculture leaves strips here and there for nature and crop rotation of the soils. Good for the insects and birds.

No more famine
The energy problem has been solved. In countries where there is too little water, but the sun shines much more than in our country, we have made solar parks with hydrogen production. In return, we supply those countries with food. That is why there is no longer a famine in these developing countries and the inhabitants remain in their own country. The refugee flows have therefore also been resolved.

The nitrogen emissions caused by the combustion of fossil raw materials have also disappeared due to the solar parks, because we now only use green electricity and hydrogen. So the earth is no longer warming either. One thing is certain. I know which parties I should not vote for.

Jaap Major
Low Zuthem

Boerenbusiness

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